Some of the earliest of my childhood memories comes from the dark nights of late January when each year, my dad would make marmalade. My sister and I would lie in our beds in our bedroom at the front of the flat where we lived in Cambridge and the delicious warm smells of Seville oranges and black treacle would drift through… and in the morning there would be a […]

I was very grateful to the Weston Mercury for writing this article about me, and including a picture! It’s not quite true, however that I was inspired by Steep Holm and Flat Holm – the names were a trigger certainly, but although Farholm Island is an English island, I got more inspiration from Rathlin Island […]

ShebbearCollege,Devon- 20th January 2006 A night with Kevin – and with an added extra!! Deepest darkest Devon Six days after the great night at the Polish Club in Bristol where everything sweated, even the walls (the only exception, Paul Deakin) I set out into the wilds of Devon to go to ShebbearCollegeto see Kevin and […]

I am continuing to edit ‘The Stalking of Rosa Czekov’. I’m about half way through reading it out loud to myself, cutting out repetitions… of which I seem particularly fond. When I write I have a commentary running in my head which is in normal spoken English with sentences beginning with ‘and’ and ‘but’, words repetitive for audible emphasis as one would in […]

If your book is accepted by a publisher, the choice of cover may not be under your control. What a daunting prospect when it is though! Self-publishing loads all the responsibility onto the author. it is exciting… but anxiety inducing. What picture? What style? What would speak for your book, what would attract your readers, pull them into […]